Rival to Challenge Kellner Again, This Time for Assembly Seat

Ed Hartzog, who ran against Assemblyman Micah Kellner in a New York City Council race this year, will run against him again next year, this time in a bid to oust the state lawmaker from elected office.

Hartzog, who came in third behind Kellner and eventual winner Ben Kallos in the Democratic primary for a Council district on Manhattan's Upper East Side, filed this month to run for Kellner’s Assembly seat in 2014.

"After that race, I took some time, talked with my family and people in my community, political leaders, all kinds of folks, and after getting some rest and thinking more about it and the encouragement I was receiving from the community, I decided to file and to run for the Assembly," said Hartzog, a member of the local community board.

Kellner’s fortunes took a turn for the worse this summer when allegations came to light that he had sexually harassed a young staffer in his Assembly office. A number of major backers rescinded their endorsements, paving the way for Kallos' victory.

Hartzog said that he wants to focus on issues like land use, creating more green spaces and protecting senior citizens, not on Kellner's "personal issues." Kellner declined to comment on Hartzog's candidacy.

Hartzog did mention Kellner's controversial support for a catering establishment, the Rose Group, to secure a liquor license even though it was within 200 feet of a church. He said that he and Kellner also differ over how to deal with traffic problems on York Avenue, arguing that the assemblyman had not pushed for significant enough changes to improve safety.

In September, Kallos won the Democratic City Council primary with 46 percent of the vote, with Kellner getting 39 percent and Hartzog coming in third with 15 percent. But Kellner, who stayed in the race and ran on the Working Families Party line in November, saw his vote total cut in half, from 6,420 in the primary to 3,118 in the general election.

"There's a clear indication that there's an erosion of support, and I think that many of the folks that voted for Ben in the primary, a lot of those folks agreed with the things that I was saying," Hartzog said. "I do think that quite a few of those folks will be looking at my candidacy and I'm hoping that they'll be pulling the lever for me."